How LinkedIn helped kickstart my career abroad
Introduction
I grew up in the beautiful country of South Africa and that is where, from a young age, I found my passion for software, electronics and all things tech. While studying I was introduced to the wonderful world of engineering and all it had to offer. It was this keen interest in engineering that sparked my dream of one day working abroad. Throughout my studies, I applied to a number of international firms for internships in the hopes of going overseas but all these applications proved to be fruitless. In the last two years of my studies, together with my best friend, I co-founded a software development startup to turn my hobby of software development into a means of funding our craving for everything tech and of course good coffee. As my studies grew to a close I focused more on just finishing my degree without going grey than my future aspirations. After finally graduating, I started as a Junior Instrumentation Engineer at a consulting firm in Johannesburg. While I really enjoyed this job and learnt new things every day my desire to work abroad grew stronger…
Let recruiters know you’re open
While working at the consulting firm, I slowly started putting together a LinkedIn profile and would annoy everyone in the office by asking whether I could invite them on LinkedIn. One day while tinkering around on LinkedIn, I came across the “Let recruiters know you’re open” option and this got me wondering, “Is it really possible that you can click this magic button and recruiters will contact you?”. This page also had the option “Where would you like your next job to be located?” now this intrigued me. That evening I spoke to my fiance and asked her to give me a list of countries she would be willing to move to so I could apply for jobs, I compared that to my list I had made earlier and compiled the final list of places I could work.
The next morning I raced to work so I could open my laptop and fill in the list of countries I wanted to work in. It was only after I had filled out all the options that I realised that this whole thing seemed too good to be true and I really shouldn’t get my hopes up. The optimist deep down inside nudged me to click submit and I swiftly clicked the submit button and closed the tab as if, by some magic, me watching the screen could change the outcome.
Amber sent you a new message
A few weeks had passed since I let recruiters know I was open for new opportunities and just as I had thought would happen, nobody had even sent me a message expressing interest. During the course of my work, I tried my best to keep my profile up to date with the latest skills I had obtained from projects. I had recently finished up a project with a team of engineers upgrading the process automation software for one of Anglo Platinum’s processing plants and I got a fair amount of hands-on experience with Siemens PCS7 and so I added the recently obtained Siemens PCS7 skill. About a week later I was shocked to see an email from LinkedIn with the subject line
“Amber sent you a new message”
For someone who rarely, if not ever, received messages on LinkedIn this was a big deal. I quickly opened a browser tab and navigated to LinkedIn and lo and behold, a new message from someone named Amber awaited me. I eagerly open the message to see the following
“ Hi Keagan,
I was wondering if you would be interested to work in a foreign country. We…”
I couldn’t read further as my heart was trying to climb out of my chest. Had this magic button really worked?
I double-checked the contents of the message to make sure that I was not imagining things and I was not! I really had been messaged about an engineering role in the Netherlands. I took a moment to calm down before replying to the message as professionally as possible without falling over my own fingers while typing. After a brief interaction with Amber, I was informed about the company and asked whether I was interested in the role and if so could I please send a copy of my CV to her email address. That evening I polished up my CV and sent it off to the email she had provided.
The Interview(s)
It was around a week later that I received a response from Amber to let me know that the company was impressed with my CV and that they would like to arrange a Skype interview with me. I gladly accepted and asked whether it was possible to have an interview between 12 and 1 pm as that was over my lunch break. Moments later I received a calendar invite for a skype meeting to my private email account which I quickly accepted. A few days later I had my first interview with Amber and a man named Marc who explain the position and the process of moving over to the Netherlands if I was to get the job. The interview ended with Marc saying I would be contacted for a second interview if the company expresses interest in hiring me. A few weeks later I received a second calendar invited for a Skype meeting with Amber and Marc in which they again explained how moving over would work and the legalities of getting a work permit but not too much about whether I had got the job. This time the interview ended with me being told that I should just wait and that I would be informed whether I got the job closer to the end of the year.
Light and the end of the year
It had been a few months since I had last heard from Amber or Marc and I didn’t want to come across as desperate so I didn’t initiate any contact first. It was nearing Christmas time and businesses in South Africa started closing around that time of year. I was scheduled to go on leave in a few weeks and I still had not heard a word so I just assumed the worst and that I had not been given the position. Then one Friday afternoon I checked my emails and I was delighted to see an email from Marc informing me that the company is ready to bring me over, along with a number of contracts and documents in Dutch for me to review. I stopped what I was doing and did a small dance of excitement and went to buy a celebratory coffee before coming back to my desk to continue with my work for the day. That evening was spent translating the pages of the Dutch employment contract and figuring out what was required from me.
The rest of the process went by really quickly, I had spent so much time waiting for the email and no time preparing for if it actually came. In a matter of two months, I had all the legalities sorted out, my apartment packed up and my bags ready.
Conclusion
I think there are two points to my story, one being that LinkedIn is a really great tool to help build your professional image and career. I would really suggest to everyone to take the time and effort to set up and maintain a decent LinkedIn profile, it is worth the effort. The second point of my story is that if you have a dream to work abroad, you should never dismiss the idea because it is possible. I started out having a dream of one day moving and working abroad and thanks to a fair amount of luck and using LinkedIn I was able to fulfill that dream.
